漫画大王

Chapter 101

“Huff... Huff... Huff...”

Upon returning to camp, Riana collapsed near a tree stump, where Heinrich had managed, through great effort, to kindle a fire. The pouring rain threatened to extinguish it, but Heinrich kept the flames alive, resulting in a continuous plume of rising steam.

“Granz, are you okay?” Heinrich asked with a concerned look, and Riana glanced at him, her arms and legs trembling.

‘Oh yeah, that’s right...’

I remembered that the setting was that Heinrich had a crush on Riana de Granz.

“Do I... look okay to you...”

“Ah, right... Well, no.”

... Somehow, I felt like I understood why she was pretending to be all tough.

She was basically just a female version of me, a female version of Reinhart. Hence, she spoke in a gruff manner and acted tough, but in the end, got all the necessary jobs done.

“Isn’t a jaguar basically like a tiger?” Harriet asked.

Harriet had asked us how we’d managed to capture the deer, and was astonished when she heard about the wild beast that we’d encountered during our hunt.

“It’s not a tiger, but something similar.”

“... And you killed it? You did?”

She seemed doubtful, unable to believe it. Surely, it must have sounded like a tall tale that two 17-year-olds had fended off a jaguar.

I pointed toward the deer corpse.

“Well, do you think it’s possible to do something like that with my mouth?”

‘Ah...’

Only after the words had left my mouth did I realize that the way Granz and I spoke was exactly the same.

In any case, the deer’s neck had been torn open, and it was clearly not something that could have been done with human teeth.

That confirmed to Harriet that we had indeed encountered a wild beast.

“Are you hurt?” Harriet asked, peering at me with a slightly worried face.

“... I got electrocuted, but I’m alright.”

“Electrocuted? Why would you get—Oh.”

Harriet seemed to suddenly remember that I had come back with Riana, and nodded blankly.

It was actually Riana who had nearly killed me, and not the jaguar.

However, Harriet had asked me if I was hurt, and I didn’t mind that at all.

Despite the ongoing rain, the camp had been considerably rebuilt. The collapsed structures had been restored, and those busy working would return to the fire that Heinrich was tending whenever they grew too cold to warm up before getting back to work.

I tied the deer’s hind legs with vines and hung it on a large tree branch, just the way I had seen it done from over someone’s shoulder.

Then...

Thwack!

“Yeek!”

Thwack!

“Eck...”

Thwack!

I chopped through the deer’s neck completely with an axe. I could have slit the artery, but the carcass was already muddy, and the area that the jaguar had sunk its teeth into was most likely severely infected with bacteria. Blood began to flow out, and frankly, it was not a pleasant sight.

Next, I slit the deer’s belly open and removed the entrails.

My classmates were all horrified by the gruesome scene. Their expressions seemed to ask, “How could anyone do such a thing?”

Harriet, Riana, and even Adelia were shaking violently.

‘Hey, I feel just as nauseated and as close to vomiting as you guys! But since none of you would even dare to do it if I asked you to, I’m the one who’s doing it!’

“Dammit. Do you think I’m doing this because I want to? You guys are looking at me like I’m some kind of animal. Do any of you want to do it? Huh?”

When I shouted irritably, they all evaded my gaze.

Of course, even I had to admit that with my face, hands, and clothes all drenched in bright red blood, I looked horrifying.

***

Both the campsite team and the hunting teams had to perform tremendous physical labor without even having breakfast, in the midst of the unrelenting downpour. It was only natural that everyone was incredibly exhausted, even if they weren’t necessarily suffering from dehydration.

Even with Heinrich present, grilling meat in the midst of a torrential downpour was a difficult task.

After bleeding and skinning the deer, I chopped up the deer meat using an axe and a machete. It was a rather violent process, more akin to hacking than cutting, since I lacked the skill in both butchery and de-boning.

I placed the chunks of meat into a large pot and boiled them.

It was a crude and simple operation. If there had been spices or other ingredients, I might have been able to make something that resembled a proper meal, but none were available. The only seasoning we had was salt.

Heinrich and Riana both helped to heat the pot with fire and electricity, assisting the boiling process.

As the pot simmered and the meat cooked, I could see the change in everyone’s eyes. It was the third day already, and we were all on the brink of going mad from hunger. No one cared about the taste; we just wanted to eat something, anything, and everyone was eagerly waiting for the meat to be cooked.

When the meat was almost ready, Vertus and Cliffman returned from the jungle.

Vertus’s eyes widened when he saw the remaining chunks of deer meat.

“Oh, did you guys catch this?”

It seemed Vertus also had some success, having caught a total of seven creatures, including birds and small animals.

“How did you manage to catch so many?”

In a way, I had stolen the prey that some other animal had caught, but Veruts had genuinely taken down seven animals himself.

It dawned on me that I had forgotten just how formidable Vertus was, not just mentally, but physically as well.

“These guys won’t offer much in the way of food, though.”

Even so, I was amazed he had caught seven.

Vertus chuckled as he saw the look in my eyes. “Reinhart, hunting is quite a common hobby among the nobles, you know. Of course, it’s not usually hunting of this kind.”

Since Vertus stood at the pinnacle of high society, it made sense that he was familiar with hunting.

But when nobles went hunting, didn’t they just wait around to shoot prey that was driven towards them by their servants? Vertus seemed to be doing slightly more than that, especially since Ellen had taken the bow, meaning he accomplished this hunt with just a spear.

Vertus’ actual hunting skills must have been impressive.

Vertus looked around the camp and then asked me, “Has Ellen returned yet?”

“It seems like she hasn’t.”

Ellen hadn’t returned. She was somewhere out there, and we didn’t know what she was doing. But neither I nor Vertus was worried about her running into trouble since we knew what she was capable of. The others seemed a bit concerned, though.

“It seems Erhi isn’t around either.”

His comment made me realize that Erhi de Raffaeli was not at the campsite either.

In response to Vertus’s query, Heinrich said cautiously, “Erhi... he said he was going to...”

“What is it?”

“He went into the forest... to look for Kaier.”

His friend was missing, and since no one else seemed intent on searching for him, he had recklessly entered the jungle by himself.

After hearing this, I looked over at Connor Lint, who was also staring blankly into the deeper part of the jungle.

Connor Lint, Kaier Vioden, and Erhi de Raffaeli.

Those three were extremely close, so it was natural for them to worry about each other.

“Damn it.”

“There wasn’t even a chance to stop him before he just rushed in...”

Erhi had run off solo, at a time when acting alone was highly unsafe.

Vertus’s brow furrowed as he pondered the situation, before finally letting out a deep sigh.

“Let’s put these thoughts aside for a moment and eat first.”

For now, the deer meat alone was enough to feed us, so we stopped our work and gathered to eat the fully cooked deer meat, skewered on wooden sticks.

It was tough but edible, as it had been seasoned with salt.

As I answered Vertus’s questions about how we managed to catch the deer, the topic of the jaguar came up. When he heard how Riana and I had collaborated to ensnare the jaguar, Vertus seemed momentarily stunned.

“A jaguar? It’s surprising enough that such a creature was out there, but even more so that you managed to stop it.”

Honestly, if I was to be exact, Riana was the one who had stopped it, and I had just dealt the final blow. But the fact that I had managed to withstand being struck by lightning was, in some way, a testament to my abilities as well.

While we were eating, Harriet suddenly burst into a vacant laugh.

“Heh, heh-heh... Heh...”

“... Thick-Skull... Why are you freaking everyone out all of a sudden...?”

A jolt of worry ran through the rest of us when the usually gloomy and irritable girl suddenly started laughing like she was out of her mind. Harriet was soaked from the rain, listlessly chewing on the tough deer meat and laughing mindlessly.

“Saint-Ouen? What’s wrong?”

Even Vertus seemed concerned as he checked Harriet’s complexion.

Had she eaten some kind of psychedelic mushroom while I wasn’t looking?

“Nothing. It’s just... In just a few days, we’re all here eating like this, as if it’s normal... And suddenly... suddenly it seemed funny to me...”

That sentiment seemed to come from a profound contemplation, like a moment of enlightenment—in just a few days, here we were, together, eating deer meat boiled in saltwater under the rain, regardless of our social status. This realization seemed to hit everyone simultaneously.

In fact, everyone was now eating with satisfaction, without any complaints, content merely with the fact that there was food at all. The deeper the hunger, the less it mattered what they were eating. This had to be some form of self-derision.

It seemed that Harriet wasn’t even angry anymore; she found the absurdity of the situation amusing.

“That’s true, it is kind of funny.”

Vertus, too, seemed to suddenly find the situation ridiculous and chuckled as he continued to tear into the meat.

The nobles, especially, were laughing senselessly, and their laughter didn’t seem completely negative, which was rather bizarre. Their expressions suggested that they had come to some new and unexpected realization.

***

Even after we finished our protein-packed meal, Ellen and Erhi had still not returned.

Connor Lint appeared anxious about Erhi not coming back.

‘Would he run into the jungle too if left on his own?’

“I’m not so worried about Ellen, but something might have happened to Erhi.”

Vertus seemed troubled, absorbed in thought. Searching for them could entangle us in even more trouble, which would be another headache to deal with.

“Alright. The campsite team will keep working on what needs to be done, and the hunting team will go on a search for Erhi, and do a little reconnaissance. But don’t go in too deep.”

Riana slumped and raised her hand. “I can’t do any more today.”

Although the meal served to replenish some of her energy, she had overexerted herself by carrying the deer back with me earlier in the day.

“Are you too exhausted, Granz?”

“I couldn’t move even if you beat me.”

Apparently, Granz was comfortable speaking bluntly even with Vertus.

“Alright, then it can’t be helped. In that case, Cliffman, me, and Reinhart will each head out individually. Since we’re all going alone, don’t go in too deep. Let’s just sweep the nearby area and come back. Let’s return in a maximum of one hour’s time.”

“Got it.”

“Understood.”

One person’s solo action was now causing three others to have to set out on their own. This incident would probably mark Erhi as unhelpful in Vertus’s eyes moving forward.

With Vertus and I armed with machetes, and Cliffman wielding a javelin and an axe, we entered the jungle, each going in a different direction.

***

Class A’s bottom trio, the three hopeless stooges: Kaier Vioden, Erhi de Raffaeli, and Connor Lint.

Originally, Kaier was the one who despised and trampled on Class B at every opportunity, Erhi had the role of bullying Scarlett until he received a lesson from Ludwig, and Connor Lint, though not particularly a bully, was known for chasing after girls.

They were in Class A, but frankly, they were just a trio of nobodies. They had tried to pick a fight with me, the bottom student of Class A, but ever since they’d been put in their place, they behaved in a subdued way.

Their talents were notable, but either their effort was lacking, their abilities were mediocre, or they had exceptional talents that came with significant flaws.

Despite this, the three of them were very close friends. While it seemed only natural for Erhi, who was so close to the other two, to worry about Kaier’s disappearance and venture alone into the jungle, it was also somewhat surprising.

Kaier was clearly doomed to fail the mission, and following the typical thriller narrative, Erhi would be the next one to fail. If you don’t stay put when you’re told, you’re basically asking to be the next victim. That’s how these stories typically go.

Then, as each subsequent person acts alone in searching for the lost friend, they become victims one by one—the classic development of a thriller.

It was funny to think about it. If this were a classic thriller plot, then surely Ellen Artorius, who one would expect to be the final survivor, would perish trying to save the protagonist in the end.

And Harriet, the complainer, wouldn’t last long either.

What’s that? The timid, terrified, supposedly first-to-die Adelia is the final survivor? So, in the end, the main character was actually Adelia!

That summarized the predictable way in which a classic thriller would develop.

If our story was going to follow that narrative, then those who disregarded the warnings and went searching for the missing person would end up dying alongside them.

Out of the three of us, then, who would be the first to bite the dust?

It wasn’t likely to be Vertus, so it was between Cliffman and me.

Solely based on character significance, it seemed right for Cliffman to be the one, regardless of individual ability.

Or, alternatively, while the three of us were away, the camp—left with only non-combatants—could be attacked.

I walked through the jungle, accompanied by these useless thoughts. After all, the concern over that night’s dinner had been resolved.

Honestly, whatever happened to Erhi was none of my concern, so I didn’t intend to actively search for Erhi. I was out for a leisurely stroll through the jungle.

Surviving until the end of the mission would grant achievement points. Therefore, the outcome was irrelevant to me. If I found Erhi, good; if not, so be it. I was hoping for Class B to win, but I wasn’t going to do anything that would look suspicious, like giving them hints.

Walking alone through the pouring rain, the sights of the jungle drew my attention anew.

If there was a verdant hell, this would be it. The realization hit me anew: nature was beautiful, but when it was overwhelming, it could be dreadful in its own way.

Everything should be in moderation.

Gush, gush, gush...

In such a place, there was no need for ASMR rain sounds.

Being pelted directly by the rain wasn’t exactly pleasant, though.

Even if the rain stopped, that brought issues of its own. Even if I could completely dry off that night and sleep, the jungle would be even more humid than usual when we entered again the next day, and I might very well be steamed alive then.

As I thought about the next day, my mood soured preemptively, and just when I was beginning to think it might be time to head back, I heard voices cutting through the rain.

—Move out of the way, I said.

—And what if I don’t?

The sound of conversation drifted through the rain and reached my ears.